In belt sanders, it is well known that after a period of operation the surface of the abrasive belt becomes loaded or filled with particles of wood and also the resins of the wood, and in fact the belt becomes glazed and virtually ineffective in operation.
One solution to this problem has been to close down the machine, remove he belt and replace the belt with a new belt, the old belt being discarded. Chemical cleaning is also known, but the most common method of cleaning the belt is to apply a block of synthetic or natural rubber, preferably crepe rubber to the surface of the belt with relative motion between the belt and the block of rubber. For small sanders, the block of rubber can be hand held, but in commercial situations and particularly for wide belt sanders it is not practical and can be a dangerous action to hold the block of rubber against the sanding belt.